The Democratic National Committee has tried to present the party as friendly to a range of faiths and has been planning a specific outreach to Catholic voters, a community the Democrats could once take for granted. In September 2006, former Democratic Party Chairman David Wilhelm launched an effort called Faithful Democrats, billed as “an online community of Christian Democrats.”

In 2004, political conservatives launched another Republican-backed initiative to attract Catholics: a National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, designed as an alternative to the traditional National Prayer Breakfast, which has a largely evangelical Protestant character. The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast became a premier event for Republican leaders, and President Bush addressed the gathering on April 7, 2006.

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries was formed in 1990 in resistance to ELCA’s policy on forcing celibacy on its gay clergy. Following the ELCA’s decision in 2009 to drop this policy, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries continues to provide support for LGBTQ clergy. Contact executive director Amalia Vagts.

The Republican party has made a strong push to draw Catholic voters. The Republican National Committee has a “Catholic Team” designed to recruit Catholics voters. The mission statement of the GOP Catholic Team says: “The Republican Party makes it possible for Catholics to uphold both the culture of life and social justice in a way […]

Jim Towey is a Catholic who succeeded DiIulio as head of the White House’s faith-based program, serving as director until he left that post to become the president of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., in July 2006. On Aug. 3, 2006, President Bush appointed Jay Hein, president of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research in Indianapolis, as Towey’s […]

Beth Wenger is an associate professor of American Jewish history at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Jewish Americans: Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America. She wrote the chapter titled “The Politics of Women’s Ordination: Jewish Law, Institutional Power and the Debate Over Women in the Rabbinate” in Tradition Renewed: A History of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

John K. White is a political science professor and fellow at the Life Cycle Institute at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

ReconcilingWorks, formerly known as Lutherans Concerned/North America, works to reconcile members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to full inclusivity of LGBT people. Aubrey Thonvold is the interim executive director. The organization is based in St. Paul, Minn.

David Leege is an emeritus professor of political science at Notre Dame University and spends much of the year in Arizona. Leege is a leading expert on Catholic voting patterns.